December is considered off season in agriculture, but Brittany Hall and her wife Caley Brooks, the founders of Beets & Blooms Farm, are equally as busy during the down season.
At just one acre, the East-Hampton-based farm may seem small compared to Connecticut’s average 74-acre farms, but it stands out by being a woman-run operation.
In the winter, there’s bookkeeping, crop planning and prepping for their community supported agriculture and farmer’s markets in Middletown and Stony Creek. While CSA and farmer’s markets are their livelihood, Hall said they are equally as motivated to give back to causes they believe in. They also distribute food to a Norwalk food pantry every week.
For younger and first-time farmers like Hall and Brooks, ages 33 and 35 respectively, agriculture is becoming more than just a means of earning a living. Several Connecticut farmers told CTExaminer they are drawn to farming because it aligns with their values, including conservation, nutrition and a desire to have a positive impact on the food system.
They are entering an occupation that faces a growing list of challenges, including the rising costs of doing business, a labor shortage and extreme weather, according to the 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture and interviews with the New CT Farmer Alliance and an interview with Bryan Hurlburt, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture. Nationally the age of farmers is also increasing, with the current average being 58.
It’s particularly challenging for younger and beginner farmers who don’t have land access, health care, nor the institutional farming knowledge typically passed down through generations.
Some 96% of farms are family owned, according to the 2022 census, and only 30% of those farms make it to the second generation, according to Pinion Global, an international consulting firm. Connecticut falls within these national trends with 94% of its 5,000 farms family owned, covering some 372,000 acres of farmland, according to the state’s department of agriculture and USDA National Agricultural Statistics. In Connecticut, beginner farmers — defined as those with 10 or fewer years of experience — make up about 32% of all farms, with an average age of 47.7. Farmers under 35 account for just 10% of the total, or roughly 956 farms. Agriculture is a $4 billion industry in the state and provides some 30,000 jobs.
Generational knowledge
Younger farmers make up a small share of Connecticut’s agricultural community but have benefited from the mentorship of slightly older farmers, fostering a more collaborative rather than competitive industry.
“We want to create our own farmers — we want more farms to be doing what we’re doing,” said Aaron Taylor, a 41-year-old farmer and one of four co-founders of Four Root Farm in East Haddam. “What we do is cooperative.”
Four Root, launched in 2015, has drawn on guidance and expertise from organizations such as the UConn Extension and the New CT Farmer Alliance.
“I just think it’s important to try and network and try and see what other people are doing,” he said.
After graduating from Wesleyan University in 2006 with majors in political science and music, Taylor said he became hooked on farming after volunteering at a farm. Having worked at a homeless shelter and law firm, Taylor “was really interested in the hunger and food systems. I just figured I’d work on a farm for a while and just kind of see that side of things,” he said.
“I just kind of fell in love with the work and I discovered that it was intellectually challenging and interesting and physically engaging. I really liked it and I liked being outside,” he said.
In 2015, Taylor partnered with three other first-time farmers — Rachel Berg, Elise Cusano and Caitlin Taylor (Aaron’s wife) — now all 40.
Ten years later, Four Root is self-sustaining, owns its land and employees 10 people. It also offers employment opportunities and mentorship to the next generation of farmers.
Baylee Drown, a 39-year-old co-founder of Long Table Farm in Lyme, said she was also inspired to farm for the lifestyle of working outdoors.
“I think people are mission and philosophy driven and they are doing it because they like the quality of life, connection to earth, and the physicality to it,” said Drown, who runs the farm with her life and business partner Ryan Quinn. “It’s a rejection of the attention economy.”
Drown said they are trying to “re-localize the food system” by reducing emissions, offering access to local and fresh food in the neighborhoods, and supporting small businesses. As with most newer farms, Long Table Farm relies on CSAs and farmers markets for income.
The New CT Farmer Alliance has over 700 members — many of them in their 20s, 30s and 40s and beginner farmers — said Ella Kennen the organization’s coordinator. There is a shared desire to connect and exchange information, on everything from opening a farm stand to what culturally relevant crops to grow. The organization also awards grants including a climate smart grant, an agricultural enhancement grant and microgrants for new farmers.
There’s been a steady stream of beginner farmers joining the alliance in recent years, and they are interested in farming with regenerative practices, Kennan said.
“Beginning farmers are much more interested in sustainable practices. They tend to do things, I’m not going to say in an artisanal way, but in a much smaller-scale way,” she said. “They often follow organic practices even if they don’t go through organic certification. They think about soil health. They think about regenerative farming. They think about how farming fits into what they’re doing to the soil, and what they’re doing with their communities.”
Seasoned mentorship
Neither Hall nor Brooks grew up in agriculture, but they shared a strong interest in owning their own farm.
Hall was working in social services with refugees and researching local organic farms when she came across Four Root Farm.
“I sent this very flowery email to them letting them know I had no experience, but I would really, really love to learn everything about farming because I wanted to have a farm of my own,” Hall said.
She and Brooks worked in a variety of roles at Four Root, including seeding, harvesting and learning about pests and beneficials. Hall said she found inspiration in “working with the farmers at Four Root and hearing their stories and learning from them. And even on that first day, you’re often planting right across from somebody. I was immediately enamored.”
In 2020, the couple began searching for land to start their own farm, and two years later purchased a property. They attribute their steady success to what they learned from the Four Root farmers, including strategy on planting beds and efficiencies in operations and record-keeping.
“Four Root are still some of our closest friends. I call Rachel still if I have a big question,” Hall said.
A big part of Beets & Blooms is giving back to mission-aligned organizations. They partner with the Circle Care Center and Triangle Community Center to distribute food to their food bank in Norwalk every week. The Triangle Community Center’s grant pays Beets & Blooms for their produce.
“It was always important to us to get food, our certified organic food, into queer hands. That was important to us as well,” Hall said.
They are also committed to environmentally responsible farming; the farm’s moniker is “organic, no till, sustainable. From our farm to your family.” To keep costs low, they are mostly hand powered, although “we’ve got like a small walk-behind tractor to break ground and mow and do a few other tasks,” Hall said.
Beets & Blooms also recently received its organic certification. And like their mentors at Four Root, Hall and Brooks focus on vegetables, flowers and have a passion for bringing freshly harvested food to the community.
“We just like being able to provide that healthy food for people,” Hall said.